Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is any form of sexual interaction done without a person’s consent. Sexual violence is the use of sexual actions and words that are unwanted and are harmful to another person. It can happen to anyone at any age. Women and girls, people of color, gender-fluid people and other marginalized people are especially targets of sexual violence. Some acts are considered crimes while others are not, but any unwanted sexual acts are wrong and harmful. We recognize that there are many causes of sexual violence. The biggest factor is that we live in a culture that supports, condones and ignores sexually violent messages and behavior. Images of women and girls as objects in the media are widespread. Our culture supports the message that women should be sexually available. We call this rape culture. Contact an advocate at DeafHope for more information.